The present invention relates to a process cartridge and an image forming apparatus.
Here, the electrophotographic image forming apparatus forms an image on a recording material through an electrophotographic image formation type. Examples of electrophotographic image forming apparatus include an electrophotographic copying machine, an electrophotographic printer (laser beam printer, LED printer or the like), a facsimile machine and a word processor.
The above-described process cartridge contains as a unit an electrophotographic photosensitive member and a charging means, a developing means or a cleaning means in the form of a cartridge which is detachably mountable to a main assembly of an image forming apparatus. The process cartridge may contain an electrophotographic photosensitive member and at least one of a charging means, a developing means and a cleaning means in the form of a cartridge which is detachably mountably to a main assembly of an image forming apparatus. The process cartridge may contain an electrophotographic photosensitive member and at least developing means in the form of a cartridge which is detachably mountably to a main assembly of an image forming apparatus.
With process cartridge type, the servicing or maintenance operations can be in effect carried out by the users, so that the operativity is significantly improved, and therefore, the process cartridge type is widely used in the electrophotographic field.
As shown in FIG. 23, the process cartridge 45 comprises a developing device frame 43 supporting a developing roller 18 and a toner accommodating container 46, which are welded to each other by ultrasonic welding. To the developing unit, a cleaning frame 47 which supports a photosensitive drum 11, a charging roller 12 and a cleaning blade 14, is coupled by a pin 49. A compression coil spring 42 is provided between the cleaner frame 47 and developing device frame 43. By this, the photosensitive drum 11 and the developing roller 18 are urged toward each other with spacer rollers therebetween.
In the electrophotographic image forming apparatus of the process cartridge type, the demand is for a large capacity developer (toner) accommodating container and a large removed toner container to extend the time period until the necessity of exchange of the process cartridge.
With the increase of the capacity of the developer accommodating container, a developer feeding member for feeding the developer out of the developer accommodating container is necessary.
Accordingly, it is a principal object of the present invention to provide a process cartridge and an image forming apparatus wherein the quality of the image is good despite the increase in toner capacity.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a process cartridge and an electrophotographic image forming apparatus in which a driving system for a developer feeding member for feeding the developer from the developer accommodation and a driving system for an electrophotographic photosensitive drum are separated.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a process cartridge and an electrophotographic image forming apparatus in which a driving system of the developer feeding member does not influence rotation of the electrophotographic photosensitive drum.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a process cartridge and an electrophotographic image forming apparatus in which the driving system of an electrophotographic photosensitive drum and a driving system of a developer feeding member are separated from each other so that smooth rotation of the electrophotographic photosensitive drum can be maintained.
According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a process cartridge which is detachably mountable to a main assembly of an electrophotographic image forming apparatus, comprising;
an electrophotographic photosensitive drum;
a developing member for developing an electrostatic latent image formed on the electrophotographic photosensitive drum;
a developer accommodating portion for accommodating the developer to be used by the developing member to develop the electrostatic latent image;
a developer feeding member for feeding the developer accommodated in the developer accommodating portion toward the developing member;
a first driving force transmitting means for transmitting to electrophotographic photosensitive drum a driving force which is received from the main assembly of the apparatus to rotate the electrophotographic photosensitive drum when the process cartridge is mounted to the main assembly of the electrophotographic image forming apparatus;
a second driving force transmitting means for transmitting to the developer feeding member a driving force received from the main assembly of the apparatus to rotate the developer feeding member when the process cartridge is mounted to the main assembly of the electrophotographic image forming apparatus, wherein the second driving force transmitting means is independent from the first driving force transmitting means.
In these embodiments, the term xe2x80x9clongitudinal directionxe2x80x9d means a direction which is perpendicular to the recording medium conveyance direction, and is parallel to the plane of the recording medium.
These and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent upon a consideration of the following description of the preferred embodiments of the present invention taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings